


The Yellow Brick Road

by eriah211



Category: Primeval
Genre: Future, Gen, Season/Series 01, Stranded, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 03:55:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211
Summary: Set in early Series 1. Abby, Nick and Ryan are stranded in the future and they try to find their way back home with a bit of help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Livejournal in 2016.  
> Written for the primeval_denial monthly challenge (January), using prompt1 (The Way Through the Woods, by Kipling).  
> Thank you very much to the lovely goldarrow for the beta.

 

“This is where we part ways, Nick. Just follow the yellow brick road, so to speak,” Helen had said lightly. “You’ll eventually get to a roundabout, or what’s left of one. An anomaly to our time opens there intermittently.”  
  
“Why don’t you come home with us?” Cutter had asked, much to Abby’s surprise.  
  
“Oh, Nick, I thought you had already realised,” Helen had answered, looking genuinely sad for a moment. “That’s not my home any more.”

 

  
***

 

  
The ‘yellow brick road’, as so funnily Helen had described it before leaving, were the remains of a highway that still could be seen here and there, mostly covered by an exuberant, green forest. They were in the future, that much had been obvious since the beginning, but the few decaying ruins they could see around weren’t too old so it looked like they didn’t need to worry about future predators just yet, or so Abby hoped.  
  
Not giving it any chance, Ryan was cautiously leading their way through the forest. The soldier hadn’t been in a good mood after getting stranded on the wrong side of an anomaly with two civilians, and Helen’s sudden appearance hadn’t done much to improve it even if she had assured them she just wanted to help them find a way back. Abby was sure Ryan would have rather arrested the woman and carried her with them, but they were lost and really didn’t have many options.  
  
“Do you think we can trust her?” Ryan asked, after they had spent a while following the road.  
  
“Why would she lie to us about this?” Cutter answered. “I just don’t see what she could gain from sending us for a walk in the woods on a wild-goose chase.”  
  
Ryan simply grunted, but didn’t seem convinced in the slightest.  
  
Abby was glad the soldier was there with them. She hadn’t known him for long, but he had always been competent and trustworthy, even if a little trigger happy when it came to the creature incursions, but even in those cases he had been ready to listen to reason.  
  
“Let’s hope the big bad wolf hasn’t sent us the wrong way then,” Abby said, only half joking.  
  
“I’m not sure whether it’s the wrong way or not,” Nick replied. “But I think we can be sure about where we are right now.”  
  
He pointed at a rusty metal sheet partially covered by a bush a few metres away. The word ‘Westbury’ was still legible on the old traffic sign.  
  
“Then... this is...  the Forest of Dean?” Abby said, looking around in surprise.  
  
“Yes,” Cutter said. “It looks like it’s spreading freely now that people can’t bother it any more...”  
  
Abby looked at the big tree roots tearing the concrete apart, breaking the road into pieces, and the vegetation spreading everywhere and covering man’s work as if it was nothing. The human race‘s time was over and the forest could now relentlessly claim the land around it.  
  
“It was here before us and it seems it’s going to be here after we are gone,” Cutter said while he looked around with a sad smile on his face.  
  
That idea was terribly sad and beautiful at the same time and it made Abby feel small and insignificant.  
  
“Well, _we_ are still here, professor,” Ryan replied then. “But we shouldn’t be.”  
  
Abby turned to look at him and saw a very unimpressed Ryan glaring at Cutter.  
  
“C’mon, Professor, it’s not the time for landscape appreciation, we have to keep moving!” the soldier said as he started walking forward. “There’s an anomaly we have to find. Supposedly.”  
  
Abby smiled at the strong, determined soldier and started to follow him.

  
  
Fin


End file.
